Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I'll pick up where I left off.
Health Canada has authorized four vaccines, Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson. Only last week, we received some very good news. Health Canada has authorized the use of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children aged 12 to 15 years. There are a lot of very happy people in my riding.
All approved vaccines have been highly effective in preventing hospitalizations and deaths. As I mentioned, vaccine distribution in the provinces and territories is moving ahead quickly. More than 18 million doses of approved COVID‑19 vaccines have been delivered to the provinces and territories, and over 15 million Canadians have had their first vaccination. These figures are from last week, but they continue to increase steadily. We are on the right track.
Last week, we received two million doses of Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. It's a major shipment from this manufacturer. Last month, my colleague,Ms. Anand, the Minister of Public Services and Procurement, announced that Canada had secured COVID‑19 vaccines from Pfizer for 2022 and 2023, with options to extend into 2024.
As we have repeatedly stated, we will be there for Canadians to combat COVID‑19 by providing them with everything required for as long as it takes. We expect Canadians who are eligible for the vaccines and who want to be vaccinated will have access well before September 2021. This is part of our commitment to the provinces and territories, and we are working closely with them to combat COVID‑19.
The Cabinet Committee on the federal response to the Coronavirus disease, COVID‑19, has worked tirelessly over the past year and a half. It could comment on the whole vaccine distribution issue. I think Ms. Freeland could give us her thoughts on the matter.
We are going to continue to work together with our colleagues and offer them any help they might need to keep outbreaks under control and to keep the entire population of Canada safe. This could, for example, involve purchasing and distributing vaccines, personal protective equipment, and rapid detection tests, and facilitating their use, or calling upon private companies to distribute rapid tests in order to more thoroughly trace people who may have been in contact with someone who tested positive.
The government of Canada is providing $8 out of every $10 spent on combatting the pandemic. Once again, I'd like to point out that we have contributed an enormous amount of funds because we want to make sure that Canadians are protected. The number of things we have asked Canadians to do is unbelievable, and we are still asking those who live in a region where there has been an outbreak to stay at home. That's why we need to be there for them. We have always said that we will be there for Canadians. We need to make sure that the programs that have been established are accessible.
As for prorogation and the new throne speech, I would say that we did it so that we could take the time to think things through and make sure that all of the programs were in place to meet the needs of Canadians.
Much of the support now in place stems from the rapid surge capacity support initiative, which, in addition to the safe restart agreement, provided more than $19 billion to the provinces and territories so that they could increase the capacity of their health institutions, intensify contact tracing and provide epidemiological support and a variety of other services to all Canadians. This would enable the provinces and territories to respond more effectively in the event of an outbreak and reduce the spread in hot zones, where the pressure on health systems is strongest. They could also provide places to go for families and people who become infected by Covid‑19, who have been in contact with someone who is infected or who could not isolate otherwise. Needless to say, this money could also be used to consolidate existing services where needs are greatest.
We need to acknowledge that the provinces and territories all have different areas of jurisdiction, and that circumstances vary enormously from one area to another. I am happy to say that here in New Brunswick there are only 142 active cases. Touch wood! However, as we know, things can change overnight. We therefore need to make sure that the provinces and territories have some control over funds and over future national health policies. We are there to support them through this process.
In its COVID‑19 response, the Government of Canada Introduced rapid surge capacity support for eight existing services: testing assistance, outbreak management, contact tracing, laboratory services, testing equipment, voluntary safe isolation sites, public health response teams and human resource recruitment. These priority measures were put in place to help the population, and did not exist when the 2019 throne speech was delivered. We only succeeded in establishing them after careful consideration.
We were recently able to provide assistance to health systems in trouble, including Ontario's, through health human resources assistance measures, including reimbursement for the costs associated with the temporary transfer of health human resources from one province or territory to another. These funds will help support specialized care services by deploying staff when and where the need arises, including intensive care nursing staff and doctors.
Since it's National Nursing Week, I'll take this opportunity to congratulate all nurses from the bottom of my heart for their outstanding work in our wonderful country. They are front-line superheroes, and deserve everyone's thanks .
I'm very pleased to see that Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia sent staff a few weeks ago to help Ontario in these difficult times. We are all Canadians and all members of the same family. We're there to help one another. I felt very proud about the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia sent people to Ontario to help out.
Every province and territory will be eligible for up to $20 million for the deployment of resources to areas in need. It's truly an opportunity for team spirit to come to the fore countrywide. The provinces and territories are prepared to help one another. The federal government will be deploying the financial resources needed to send health human resources where the need is greatest.
I'd now like to discuss testing, which, together with public health measures, are the main ways being used to slow the spread of COVID‑19.
So far, over 25 million rapid tests have been shipped to the provinces and territories. By combining these with the federal tests, up we have calculated that over 41 million rapid tests have been distributed across Canada. Several provinces and territories have announced that these types of test would be available for their companies. This is a follow-up to the successful distribution of over 1.2 million rapid tests to long-term care centres, hospitals, homeless shelters and areas where there are rapidly spreading outbreaks of the virus.
The rapid tests are useful, because they can detect presymptomatic and asymptomatic cases, isolate people earlier and slow the spread of COVID‑19, particularly in workplaces.
As I said before, the government continues to work closely with all the provinces and territories to make sure that they have the tools they need to fight the pandemic, including buying PCR and rapid tests for them to use at testing sites. These can be combined with other public health measures. It's an additional layer of protection that can contribute to the safety and health of workers.
We also work closely with the provincial and territorial governments to strengthen the health care system and adjust to the problems encountered in delivering health services during the COVID 19 pandemic.
The 2021 budget that was just announced includes $100 million for a three-year period to promote innovative health care measures. We know that many groups have been affected disproportionately by COVID‑19, including health care workers, front-line workers, young people, seniors, and Canada's indigenous, racialized and black populations.
My friends, over the weekend, I visited my aunt Lilianne at her home in Moncton. She is 99 years old and is doing very well from the cognitive standpoint. She has received both doses of the vaccine and is very happy and grateful, but still feels that she is very much a prisoner of her care home. She is waiting for life to return to normal, because it has been a difficult year for her. It's clear that young people and seniors alike have been experiencing stress and suffering mentally from the pandemic. We mustn't forget this.
There are so many unbelievable community organizations in Canada, and in our provinces, that are close to people and know better than anyone else how to provide these services. We want to help them, particularly at this time, because we can see that demand for services like these has increased. I said early on in this pandemic that there would be a tsunami of mental health problems. That is what is now happening, and we need to cope with the situation. Fortunately, we are still seeing a marked decline in the number of breakouts in long-term care institutions. We want to make sure that residents and caregivers in long-term care institutions receive proper support.
In the 2020 full economic statement, we earmarked $6.4 million for the Canadian Foundation for Healthcare Improvement, which has been using these funds to extend its long-term care program to increase its capacity to act in the event of a pandemic. It has been doing excellent work in helping long-term care institutions in Canada better prepare for preventing infections and taking other measures to protect residents. This is really our priority. Over 350 long-term care facilities and retirement homes are receiving assistance under this program.
I'd like to finish with a few thoughts about the importance of public health guidelines.
Vaccination is moving ahead quickly, but as we said earlier, and as we can all see, we are not yet out of the woods. Even vaccinated people like my aunt Lilianne must continue to follow the basic public health guidelines that have kept us safe so far. Even though the vaccination rate is increasing daily, most Canadians have not yet received both doses of vaccine. In the meantime, public health measures are what will continue to contain the pandemic and production protect the entire population.
If we lift the restrictions too quickly, the number of cases will spike, as shown by statistical models from the outset. The scientists were right. If we remove the restrictions too soon or do not enforce them strictly enough, people will get sick and some will die.
That's the truth of the matter. Even though it's tough on morale, and even though we might all be exhausted, this is not the time to let our guard down. We all need to continue to enforce public health measures, because they have proved their worth. There are no magic recipes. We know what we have to do and we have to continue to follow the guidelines.
We decided to prorogue Parliament because we wanted to make sure that we could introduce programs that would meet the needs of Canadians during the second wave, and even the third, which we are now experiencing.
Madam Chair, I'm not sure how long I've been speaking. I don't want to use up my colleagues' speaking time, and will therefore give the floor to my friend and colleague Mr. Turnbull.
I'll continue later, if time allows, with some further comments.